Wire rope



R. D. GREEN.

WIRE ROPE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-2'6, 1919.

1,405,835. I Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

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. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. "1, 1922.

Application fled August '26, 1918. Serial Ho. 819,924.

To all whom it may concern Y Be it known that I, RICHARD DUANE GREEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Trenton, county of Mercer, and State of New- Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire Rope, fully described and represented in the. following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to heavy duty wire ro s.

ire ropes f o r general hoisting purposes, where sheave f-work. requires considerable flexibility, are generally formed with a fibre 15;

core of manila or other suitable'fibre and the wire strands which, of course, takethe strains imposed on the rope during use are laid up helically on this core.

With particularly heavy duties such as are encountered in present-day commercial use, the excessive tension, by a concentration of pressure by the wire strain-bearing strands on the core, eventually causes its disintegration. When the core thus ceases to function,

the wire strands are supported only by each other and the result is a tendency of the strandwires to nick. This nicking not only shortens the life of the ro but in addition it tends to lock the stran s, thus restricting strand and wire movement when the rope is used in sheaves, causing the wires tobreak,

It is the object of the present invention to provide a heavy duty wire rope which includes in its construction a strand support lying between the wire strands, which take t e strains imposed on them e during use, and the core, said support eing of such character that it prevents the disintegration of the core and the resulting shifting of the strands from their original osition as they are laid in the rope, where y nicking and wear of the strands on each other is prevented, and a rope is produced which has a hi her efiiciency and a longer life.

ith this general object in view, the invention consists in the combinations, details of construction and arrangements of parts which will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawing and then more articularly pointed out in the claims.

In t e drawing,

Figure 1 is a plan view, with parts broken away and removed, of a heavy-duty wire rope constructed in accordance with the invention;

, sion, so that-the core is Figure 2 is a similar view showing part of the rope in the process of construction; and

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken transversely through thecompleted rope.

Referring to the drawings, a r0 is illustrated which, as shown is provlded with a fibre core 4 comprislng a number of strands laid up spirally in the usual manner. This core may be constructed of any suitable, fibre, such as manila. Laid up on the core are a plurality of wire strands 6 which take the strains imposed on the rope during service. Each strand preferably consists of a plurality of small individual wires which may be of high carbon steel, these wires be ing spirally laid on each other in the usual manner. Although six strands of nineteen wires each are shown, it will be understood thati any other suitable arrangement may be us Ropes constructed in accordance with the invention will embody a support for the strain-carrying wire strands located between the core and the strands, the function that they are supported by each other, so

that in subsequent use, wear and nicking result. In what are regarded as the best constructions, this strand sup rt will be so laid up, on the core as top ace the core under an initial compression so that the core with the support will be substantially incompressible, though, as hereinafter pointed out, the strand support may be deformable. While the construction of this strand support may be varied, in the construc tion illustrated, the strand support comprises a-narrow flat steel band or flat wire 5'. This band or flat wire is spirall laid, up on the fibre core under considerab e ten,

placed under an initial compression. The ad 5 is preferably between the convolutions and to hold the lubrication in the core. These edges. are

shown as square, but may. be rounded if desired, and this maybe found preferable,

' especially in large ropes, as avoiding all possibility of the edges cutting the core. A

half round. or similar form of band may be I used, with the rounded side next the core,

which will ta er off the pressure'on the core and reduce l ability to injuring the core in bending over sheaves. For convenience in manufacture, the rotecting band 5 may be made of several a ternating pieces, two beingvshown in Fig. 2.

ith theconstruction described, the pres- .sure of the wire strands is taken-bythe strand support and the heavy pressure of the strands directly on the core centre is avoided. Further, when the strand support is so laid on the core as to place it under initial compression, the corrugations of the fibre strands are,'to a certain extent, flattened out, thus presenting a more cylindrical surface to the protector and strand support. As a result concentration of pressure on the fibre stran s is prevented, the fibre core has a much higher compressive resistance and supports the strands so as to prevent wear on each other and consequent nicking, and the life of the" rope is thus prolonged. The rope is more flexible and has a higher 'efliciency, that is, ahigher percentage of the total strength of its component wires, than the usual bre centre ropes.

The invention further includes the provision of a strand support that substantially conforms to the con gurations of the wire strands and is of a softer metal than the wires. This may be accomplished, for example, by a support sufficiently incompressible when wound on the core to withstand the pressure of the wire strands, but somewhat deformable thereunder. In the resent exem-plification, the supporting ban 5 is made of comparatively soft annealed steel. When the wire'strands 6 are laid up on the covered core, the tension exerted tends to deform the metal of the su port 5 into the configurations ofthe strands. This tendency is increased when the completed rope is placed under high working tension. As a result, the metal finds its way into the interstices of the wire strands and provides a relatively soft separator for the high carbon steel wires, and thus prevents nicking of the wires.

The thickness of the metal band for this purpose is important, as it must be thick enough to prevent concentration of pressure of the wire strands on the fibre centre, and must-not be so heavy that it will not flow under the tension of manufacture and use, so as to fill up the interstices and give the re uired protection between the strands.

hile the invention has been described in connection with the usual fibre orrope strand cores, and is especially valuable in such use, it will be understood that the. invention, considered broadly, is applicable also with other compressible cores, as defined by the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A wire rope com rising a fibre core, a strand support so lai up on the core as to place the same under an initial compression such as to prevent substantial compression of the combined core and support, and a' lurality of strain-bearing wire strands lai up splrally on the strand support.

2. A wire rope comprislng a fibre core, a

strand-supporting metallic band spirally.

laid up on the core to place the same under -.anin1tial compression, and a plurality of wire strands laid up spirally directly on the band.

3. A wire rope comprising a com ressible core, a strand support of substantial y softer metal than the wires of the strands laid up spirally on the core, and a plurality of wire strands laid up spirally on the support.

4. A wire rope comprising a compressible core, a plurality of wire strands and a metal strand support located between the strands and the core and in contact with the strands, the strand sup ort beingdeformable under the tension of the wire strands so that a part of its surface enters the interstices between the strands.

5. A Wire rope comprising a fibre core, a tenacious and deformable metal band laid up spirally on the fibre core to place the same 

